Kalas - Signed for Schalke04

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

Would Schalke have offered him £12k per week? We know they're a well supported club but they're also a club in decline so do we know where they stand financially? 

Dunno, they’ve offered him 2 years, which might be significant.

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

Dunno, they’ve offered him 2 years, which might be significant.

Maybe, but if there's no option it's effectively one year playing and one year to get rid. As we don't the other terms it may be an excellent deal for him ofcourse. 

[ChippenhamRed]

Apologies if I’ve missed something here, but why haven’t the club announced that Kalas has left?!

[GrahamC]

25 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Apologies if I’ve missed something here, but why haven’t the club announced that Kalas has left?!

Presumably because his contract expired nearly two months ago.

[ChippenhamRed]

28 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Presumably because his contract expired nearly two months ago.

Did he depart the club at that point and get some sort of “thanks and goodbye” at that point? Genuine question.

Just seems a little odd for a well established and generally popular player, who played quite a lot of games for us, to just…disappear out by the back door.

[GrahamC]

4 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Did he depart the club at that point and get some sort of “thanks and goodbye” at that point? Genuine question.

Just seems a little odd for a well established and generally popular player, who played quite a lot of games for us, to just…disappear out by the back door.

He didn’t - but I guess that’s because it sort of dragged on with no one outside the club knowing what was really happening.

We are interested because we’re supporters but from a club perspective (& Tomas, because he hasn’t said anything either) they have already moved on.

[Swede]

Good luck Thomas.

The bigger issue is though is that it brings to an end the sorry tail of paying Chelsea £8M for Kalas, £2M for DaSilva & £2M for KP45 all had big wages and all left for nothing. An absolute disgraceful waste of club finances.

[italian dave]

16 hours ago, redkev said:

I know what your saying and tend to agree , but it might also depend what my employer had done for me whilst I was there and how much I needed the money 

Think we all know that

Football’s a funny industry though. Loyalty (or lack of) yes, but I’m not sure that’s very different to most employment nowadays.

But the big, different, factor relates to your first point. TK is just 30 and looking at probably the last significant earnings of his career. There’s not many other places where that’s the case, and people in that position. I think that makes the decision an even easier one. 

[italian dave]

£7k, £10k, £12k: I imagine that whatever Schalke are paying him it will be in Euros - which might also have some significance in any comparison. 

[westonred]

As we would have re-signed Kalas if he had done a UTurn and it looks like the Irish Lad is not signing now can we use the money from both those failed deals to get some one in now ?

[Ian M]

For what it's worth, Opta do "Power Rankings" for all clubs in the major leagues. It's quite possible Kalas may be one of Schalke's star players.

 

.....and for funsies

[GrahamC]

34 minutes ago, westonred said:

As we would have re-signed Kalas if he had done a UTurn and it looks like the Irish Lad is not signing now can we use the money from both those failed deals to get some one in now ?

Doubtful.

Think we were already aware that Kalas wasn’t re-signing when we brought the West Brom lad in & the Irish kid would be on first year pro terms so he won’t making much difference to what we’re spending.

[ChippenhamRed]

15 hours ago, GrahamC said:

He didn’t - but I guess that’s because it sort of dragged on with no one outside the club knowing what was really happening.

We are interested because we’re supporters but from a club perspective (& Tomas, because he hasn’t said anything either) they have already moved on.

Just posted this!

 

[GrahamC]

2 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Just posted this!

 

Admin read OTIB, don’t they?

[Bris Red]

2 hours ago, Swede said:

Good luck Thomas.

The bigger issue is though is that it brings to an end the sorry tail of paying Chelsea £8M for Kalas, £2M for DaSilva & £2M for KP45 all had big wages and all left for nothing. An absolute disgraceful waste of club finances.

Indeed. Shameful and disgraceful that we wasted so much money.

[Shauntaylor85]

5 minutes ago, Bris Red said:

Indeed. Shameful and disgraceful that we wasted so much money.

Palmer was way more than £2M. Don’t forget £2M for Bentley and the Massengo fee same summer plus a big loan deal for Afobe. The wages and cash spent by LJ for £0 return. Crazy, hence why he and Holden fail elsewhere. 

[t_b]

17 hours ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Apologies if I’ve missed something here, but why haven’t the club announced that Kalas has left?!

Obviously the club just have but it’s weird they have done it. Obviously he left months ago. I don’t see us having written similar stories for the others who’s contracts left, even those who took up other offers immediately?

[petehinton]

1 hour ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Just posted this!

 

Finger on the pulse media and comms team, as always

[Engvall’s Splinter]

Classic OTIB. Complain the club don’t announce his departure, complain when they do.

[Mr Popodopolous]

54 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Palmer was way more than £2M. Don’t forget £2M for Bentley and the Massengo fee same summer plus a big loan deal for Afobe. The wages and cash spent by LJ for £0 return. Crazy, hence why he and Holden fail elsewhere. 

Afobe could have been an excellent loan signing if not for the injury! Him, Weimann as a pair with Palmer behind was showing a lot of promise.

Afobe suffered a freak ACL in training in mid September 2019. Was all hush hush but sadly the rumours were confirmed.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/breaking-bristol-city-confirm-benik-3343400

The lack of Afobe probably also impacted on Weimann and Palmer in that shape.

Massengo perhaps had to get more exposure than planned because Smith was in and out via injury persistently, and Nagy got injured 1.5 games in.

Had we looked to sell some of these in January 2021 or even summer 2021 the ambition would have been slated even though it may have brought in some fees.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Big C]

4 hours ago, Swede said:

Good luck Thomas.

The bigger issue is though is that it brings to an end the sorry tail of paying Chelsea £8M for Kalas, £2M for DaSilva & £2M for KP45 all had big wages and all left for nothing. An absolute disgraceful waste of club finances.

We got a fee for KP45

[chinapig]

12 minutes ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

Classic OTIB. Complain the club don’t announce his departure, complain when they do.

But surely we should have announced he was joining Schalke weeks before he knew he was joining Schalke?

In any event having been asked about Kalas 3 times in a recent press conference Nigel said in exasperated tones "Look, he's gone!"

[Mr Popodopolous]

Some very odd reporting out there.

BBC site says Undisclosed fee for Kalas. Fairly obvious he left on a free!

[mozo]

2 hours ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Palmer was way more than £2M. Don’t forget £2M for Bentley and the Massengo fee same summer plus a big loan deal for Afobe. The wages and cash spent by LJ for £0 return. Crazy, hence why he and Holden fail elsewhere. 

For all the criticism of Ashton and LJ, City fans were very excited about those signings. It was a fun time to follow City. Kalas in particular was a proven winner at this level and made total sense. 

Letting the players go for free, and add Diedhiou to that list, is the irritating part.

[Davefevs]

7 minutes ago, mozo said:

For all the criticism of Ashton and LJ, City fans were very excited about those signings. It was a fun time to follow City. Kalas in particular was a proven winner at this level and made total sense. 

Letting the players go for free, and add Diedhiou to that list, is the irritating part.

But when you’ve been in the game as long as Ashton and know the market as well as he does….

effing bluffer. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

I believed at the time and perhaps still do, that summer 2019 was part of a planned 2-3 year push at promotion. In a non Covid world.

It felt like a big push in 2019-20 with a bit more in 2020-21. I'm not using the Covid excuse of course but the volume of signings, the stretching of budgets. It felt a bit like it in summer 2019, promotion  the goal..perhaps if not for Covid we would have gone again a bit in 2020-21.

Either been in a bigger mess or somehow scrambled up in time! Perhaps we would have pushed big again in summer 2020 in a promotion now or bust approach!

Edited August 28, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Engvall’s Splinter]

39 minutes ago, mozo said:

For all the criticism of Ashton and LJ, City fans were very excited about those signings. It was a fun time to follow City. Kalas in particular was a proven winner at this level and made total sense. 

Letting the players go for free, and add Diedhiou to that list, is the irritating part.

I was ecstatic when Kalas signed. Webster leaving took the edge off mind you. Couldn’t believe we wasted 4m on Palmer after his hit and miss loan spell. Vanity signing by LJ and MA. 

[johnbytheriver]

2 minutes ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

I was ecstatic when Kalas signed. Webster leaving took the edge off mind you. Couldn’t believe we wasted 4m on Palmer after his hit and miss loan spell. Vanity signing by LJ and MA. 

Yet Palmer is highly rated by Coventry manager Mark Robins and seems to be 1st choice. Got to the play-offs last year,he is a really gifted player,and is playing in a team who play much better football than us.

[Mr Popodopolous]

11 minutes ago, johnbytheriver said:

Yet Palmer is highly rated by Coventry manager Mark Robins and seems to be 1st choice. Got to the play-offs last year,he is a really gifted player,and is playing in a team who play much better football than us.

Palmer strikes me as the sort of player who can be excellent or good anyway in a certain set up.

Coventry may suit him, two of the right type of forwards in front. We had that for a time with Weimann and Afobe. Sadly Afobe got injured in training and was out for the season.

          Palmer

  Weimann Afobe

Looks good!

           Palmer

  Weimann Diedhiou

Stylistically? Genuinely not so much!

Edited August 28, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[fisherrich]

10 hours ago, Swede said:

Good luck Thomas.

The bigger issue is though is that it brings to an end the sorry tail of paying Chelsea £8M for Kalas, £2M for DaSilva & £2M for KP45 all had big wages and all left for nothing. An absolute disgraceful waste of club finances.

The club has been in a shambles for years.

Edited August 28, 2023 by fisherrich

[petehinton]

4 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

I believed at the time and perhaps still do, that summer 2019 was part of a planned 2-3 year push at promotion. In a non Covid world.

It felt like a big push in 2019-20 with a bit more in 2020-21. I'm not using the Covid excuse of course but the volume of signings, the stretching of budgets. It felt a bit like it in summer 2019, promotion  the goal..perhaps if not for Covid we would have gone again a bit in 2020-21.

Either been in a bigger mess or somehow scrambled up in time! Perhaps we would have pushed big again in summer 2020 in a promotion now or bust approach!

I think, in SL’s eyes, that season was the season we went up. LJ got sacked the minute it was mathematically impossible to get into the play offs, and said in an interview somewhere he felt we should’ve gone up that year.
 

Based on basically nothing, but he does seem to get himself set on something with no reason why with no one saying the opposite, even more obvious recently with him saying our squad is far better than Luton’s!

[GrahamC]

4 hours ago, johnbytheriver said:

Yet Palmer is highly rated by Coventry manager Mark Robins and seems to be 1st choice. Got to the play-offs last year,he is a really gifted player,and is playing in a team who play much better football than us.

He started 19 games for them last season, so hardly integral to Coventry making the playoffs.

Think Gyokeres & Hamer might have just had a bit more to do with it.

Norwich local paper has also said there is nothing in this.

Robins & Viveash like him, good for them, absolutely scandalous waste of money for us.

[Mr Popodopolous]

43 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

He started 19 games for them last season, so hardly integral to Coventry making the playoffs.

Think Gyokeres & Hamer might have just had a bit more to do with it.

Norwich local paper has also said there is nothing in this.

Robins & Viveash like him, good for them, absolutely scandalous waste of money for us.

Looked rather good behind Weimann and Afobe though, didn't he.

Once Afobe went to injury a lot of our attacking play seemed to suffer.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[GrahamC]

Just now, Mr Popodopolous said:

Looked rather good behind Weimann and Afobe didn't he.

What was that? 5 games?

Looked useless to me far more often.

[Silvio Dante]

9 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

What was that? 5 games?

Looked useless to me far more often.

This is true. Nobody can deny that KP looked great behind Benik, but if a pro footballer looks good only if he plays with one or two other players it’s far more likely to be the other player making him look good, as opposed to the player being great in and of himself.

KP showed nothing in his loan spell to suggest we should have bought him - I think he was a far worse deal than DaSilva or Kalas, both of whom gave us good service, but that was clear when we had Paterson and Szmodics when he signed - there was literally no need for the buy.

[Mr Popodopolous]

12 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

What was that? 5 games?

Looked useless to me far more often.

Was a bit of a one trick pony. Seems to have played well enough in a play-off contending side (Coventry) albeit certainly no gamechanger.

[Northern Red]

 

[Silvio Dante]

46 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

 

That actually, for once in these leaving messages, comes across as pretty genuine and heartfelt. I may be being naive here, obviously - and we know that had we stumped up more cash he’d have stayed, but definitely one player who I’ve got time for.

[Red-Robbo]

39 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

 

 

I know they all write these nowadays, but Tomas's one is very eloquent and reads like it's very genuinely heartfelt.

Can't blame him for going to Schalke. Massive club. Fourth most successful in German history and second most registered supporters. In the second tier this season, of course, and TK might see some parallels with the club he's just left...

https://www.dw.com/en/schalke-relegated-from-the-bundesliga-the-inside-story-of-a-royal-case-of-the-blues/a-57184763

[One Team]

41 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

That actually, for once in these leaving messages, comes across as pretty genuine and heartfelt. I may be being naive here, obviously - and we know that had we stumped up more cash he’d have stayed, but definitely one player who I’ve got time for.

Was about to say the same, touch of class from Tomas there. He will be remembered fondly going forward. 

I wonder who will replace him as our record signing?

[One Team]

40 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I know they all write these nowadays, but Tomas's one is very eloquent and reads like it's very genuinely heartfelt.

Can't blame him for going to Schalke. Massive club. Fourth most successful in German history and second most registered supporters. In the second tier this season, of course, and TK might see some parallels with the club he's just left...

https://www.dw.com/en/schalke-relegated-from-the-bundesliga-the-inside-story-of-a-royal-case-of-the-blues/a-57184763

Indeed, bit like Leeds in our division now. If they can get going and get back up they will be quite a force.

[Silvio Dante]

4 minutes ago, One Team said:

Was about to say the same, touch of class from Tomas there. He will be remembered fondly going forward. 

I wonder who will replace him as our record signing?

Won’t be a while unless we go up.

Who knows, Rovers may use “a Kalas” as a way to mock our lack of spending..!

[GrahamC]

Nice message.

I liked the bloke, like Nathan Baker he always put his body on the line & was a top defender.

Hope it works out well for him in Germany & he gets better luck than of late on the injury front.

[Merrick's Marvels]

2 hours ago, Northern Red said:

 

I'm away to shed a tear. Top man. 

The idea you can lose players of this quality and progress (up the Football League we go) by replacing them with inferior players is laughable.

Ditto Baker. Ditto Scott. 

We'll always remember you too, Tomas. 

Up the City! 

[BCFCAL]

Bit late to the party, but his goodbye message is a bit odd I think. "I might not have been in close touch with all my teammates, but I will remember them and same applies to staff and coaches"

[CTIDhc]

Just now, BCFCAL said:

Bit late to the party, but his goodbye message is a bit odd I think. "I might not have been in close touch with all my teammates, but I will remember them and same applies to staff and coaches"

Wasn’t there a comment that he was a bit weird/strange once iirc? Maybe by Nige

probably just not too sociable and likes to keep himself to himself 

[Davefevs]

25 minutes ago, CTIDhc said:

Wasn’t there a comment that he was a bit weird/strange once iirc? Maybe by Nige

probably just not too sociable and likes to keep himself to himself 

Oh, he’s “different” for sure.  Some of that can come from the literal translation not quite working, but in Tomas’s case he’s a bit weird!

[GrahamC]

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Oh, he’s “different” for sure.  Some of that can come from the literal translation not quite working, but in Tomas’s case he’s a bit weird!

Totally, think what he’s trying to say is you meet a lot of colleagues in football but don’t always keep in touch.

Bet his English is far better than the Czech of those picking him up on this…

Dekuji! 

[BCFCAL]

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

Totally, think what he’s trying to say is you meet a lot of colleagues in football but don’t always keep in touch.

Bet his English is far better than the Czech of those picking him up on this…

Dekuji! 

I wasn't moaning at his English whatsoever, I was just wondering if it was a bit of an odd thing to say.

[maxjak]

On 30/08/2023 at 18:25, Silvio Dante said:

That actually, for once in these leaving messages, comes across as pretty genuine and heartfelt. I may be being naive here, obviously - and we know that had we stumped up more cash he’d have stayed, but definitely one player who I’ve got time for.

Yep...we are desperate for reinforcements in our defence, yet.........we let Tomas join a German 2nd Division club, for the sake of a few hundred grand?   He was settled in Bristol, he knew the club inside and out, and despite his injury issues, it would seem he had no trouble passing the Schalke medical?   Tomas was, is, and remains a class act, and at 30, has a good few years left.   Yet another pheck up, in the long line of pheck ups in the contract and transfer arena by our club......and so it goes!

[Mr Popodopolous]

14 minutes ago, maxjak said:

Yep...we are desperate for reinforcements in our defence, yet.........we let Tomas join a German 2nd Division club, for the sake of a few hundred grand?   He was settled in Bristol, he knew the club inside and out, and despite his injury issues, it would seem he had no trouble passing the Schalke medical?   Tomas was, is, and remains a class act, and at 30, has a good few years left.   Yet another pheck up, in the long line of pheck ups in the contract and transfer arena by our club......and so it goes!

Schalke are a major German club who have hit some difficult times.. they are far from a typical 2nd tier club.

Would he have stayed or gone to Schalke in a toss up?

Edited September 1, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[maxjak]

5 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Schalke are a major German club who have hit some difficult times.. they are far from a typical 2nd tier club.

Would he have stayed or gone to Schalke in a toss up?

I follow the   Bundesliga...so i know Schalke are a big club with big gates who just got relegated.  It shows how highly he is rated, so if we had offered him a decent contract  he would probably would have stayed IMO...and we wouldn't need to spend money on a new defender, but on his wages.  He has gone,  so they're  you go.   I understand all the long term injury aspect, but i think we made a mistake getting rid of an international defender 

[Port Said Red]

9 hours ago, maxjak said:

Yep...we are desperate for reinforcements in our defence, yet.........we let Tomas join a German 2nd Division club, for the sake of a few hundred grand?   He was settled in Bristol, he knew the club inside and out, and despite his injury issues, it would seem he had no trouble passing the Schalke medical?   Tomas was, is, and remains a class act, and at 30, has a good few years left.   Yet another pheck up, in the long line of pheck ups in the contract and transfer arena by our club......and so it goes!

But this is how it goes, just " few hundred grand " here, "only another million" there and the next thing you know we are back in the Ashton era.

It's really galling to me that because we have come into some money and we have had a couple of injuries, the same people who would be critical of MA and LJ for the "clubs in the bag" policy, suddenly think we should be added more and more players.

[Rocking Red Cyril]

On 30/08/2023 at 18:25, Silvio Dante said:

That actually, for once in these leaving messages, comes across as pretty genuine and heartfelt. I may be being naive here, obviously - and we know that had we stumped up more cash he’d have stayed, but definitely one player who I’ve got time for.

Okies at bottom.of the Kalas article there was a link to 'vyner signs 3 year deal'

Is tha correct? I do hope so 

[alexukhc]

43 minutes ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Okies at bottom.of the Kalas article there was a link to 'vyner signs 3 year deal'

Is tha correct? I do hope so 

Yea it’s correct

[Nogbad the Bad]

3 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

But this is how it goes, just " few hundred grand " here, "only another million" there and the next thing you know we are back in the Ashton era.

It's really galling to me that because we have come into some money and we have had a couple of injuries, the same people who would be critical of MA and LJ for the "clubs in the bag" policy, suddenly think we should be added more and more players.

Not sure they would be the same people but the difference here is that many would say (Nige included imo) we actually need a couple of targeted signings to strengthen a small squad, rather than newcomers being clubs in the bag.

No one I've seen on here was asking for much really, just using a small amount of the Scott money on a couple of necessary signings.

[Port Said Red]

6 minutes ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

Not sure they would be the same people but the difference here is that many would say (Nige included imo) we actually need a couple of targeted signings to strengthen a small squad, rather than newcomers being clubs in the bag.

No one I've seen on here was asking for much really, just using a small amount of the Scott money on a couple of necessary signings.

But it's always different positions Noggers, some want a goalkeeper, another centre half, a midfield creative (actually that one's me) another striker. The point is where do you stop until everyone is happy and stops moaning. 

The idea that we suddenly have £25m to spend is the issue, it's not free and clear it's gone into a huge hole that's not getting any smaller. I am not going to go through the whole debate of how the hole got there in the first place, but it's like going on a splurge because you managed to reduce your mortgage payments by 20%.

[maxjak]

5 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

But this is how it goes, just " few hundred grand " here, "only another million" there and the next thing you know we are back in the Ashton era.

It's really galling to me that because we have come into some money and we have had a couple of injuries, the same people who would be critical of MA and LJ for the "clubs in the bag" policy, suddenly think we should be added more and more players.

Slight over reaction....Ha!    We have to purchase another defender so if we had retained an international class one, then we wouldn't have to spend "Another Million" (Your words not mine?)   My comment was about RETAINING  a player NOT buying one...before u rattle your cage, please try to get your facts straight? 

[Port Said Red]

14 minutes ago, maxjak said:

Slight over reaction....Ha!    We have to purchase another defender so if we had retained an international class one, then we wouldn't have to spend "Another Million" (Your words not mine?)   My comment was about RETAINING  a player NOT buying one...before u rattle your cage, please try to get your facts straight? 

OK so you are saying extend the wage budget by a few hundred grand, the principal is the same, then it's give this player what he wants and the next one. I am as frustrated as anyone, but at the same time I want to see the club not losing 70/80k a day or whatever it was that @ExiledRobin posted the other day.

Clearly the people at the top of the club are trying to do what so many have been asking them to do for years, and move on and making us look more financially viable is a big part of that.

[GrahamC]

Not involved yesterday, guess he’s not quite up to speed yet after no club all summer, he does feature prominently in videos of their training this week.

They drew 1-1, letting in a equaliser in the 95th minute.

[elhombrecito]

I somehow missed this!

[phantom]

4 hours ago, elhombrecito said:

I somehow missed this!

I don't want to be the one to break the bad news to you, but has anyone told you about Alex Scott? 

[elhombrecito]

2 hours ago, phantom said:

I don't want to be the one to break the bad news to you, but has anyone told you about Alex Scott? 

[Silvio Dante]

Kalas interview on SOTC tonight. The clip here suggests it was a fairly lowball offer we gave him…

[GrahamC]

21 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Kalas interview on SOTC tonight. The clip here suggests it was a fairly lowball offer we gave him…

Which also suggests the ballpark figure being quoted on here isn’t too far from the truth.

Have to say if that was the case & this implies we weren’t remotely interested in budging, you do wonder why we even offered him anything in the first place.

Still confused as to when Alexander & Lansdown are saying this offer was spent elsewhere in our budget, as the player we signed presumably as his replacement (Rob Dickie) was the first one through the door back in early June.

[Kid in the Riot]

37 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Kalas interview on SOTC tonight. The clip here suggests it was a fairly lowball offer we gave him…

£7k pw.

[Silvio Dante]

21 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

£7k pw.

What’d be interesting to see is how that compares to what he got at Shalke. I’m not of the mind that we made necessarily a bad offer in view of TKs age and he hadn’t really played for a year, but it does feel like a starting figure. You wonder whether we used his “Bristol ties” to try and get him cheap - and I would imagine he would have signed for less than Shalke offered him, but it’s the differential.

The major oddity from what TK says (and NPs press conference when he said he’d not heard from Kalas) is that neither side seems to have contacted the other - at least officially - post the original offer. It can’t have been so far off that it wasn’t even in the realms of possibility (we must have had an idea what TK was looking for) and as @GrahamC says, if it was, why even offer?

[maxjak]

4 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

What’d be interesting to see is how that compares to what he got at Shalke. I’m not of the mind that we made necessarily a bad offer in view of TKs age and he hadn’t really played for a year, but it does feel like a starting figure. You wonder whether we used his “Bristol ties” to try and get him cheap - and I would imagine he would have signed for less than Shalke offered him, but it’s the differential.

The major oddity from what TK says (and NPs press conference when he said he’d not heard from Kalas) is that neither side seems to have contacted the other - at least officially - post the original offer. It can’t have been so far off that it wasn’t even in the realms of possibility (we must have had an idea what TK was looking for) and as @GrahamC says, if it was, why even offer?

I reckon he earns somewhere between 2 to 3 times what we offered him,  at Schalke?  Good luck to him, one of the most commited and stylish defenders i have seen at Ashton Gate, and who   can blame him, as it's probably one of his   last contract's  at age 30.

[Kid in the Riot]

3 minutes ago, maxjak said:

I reckon he earns somewhere between 2 to 3 times what we offered him,  at Schalke? 

I very much doubt that. Even if he's on £10k pw at Schalke, that is a far higher salary than £7k pw. Probably a nice little signing on fee too. 

[petehinton]

Found that a bit of an odd chat tbh. I’d say £7k is more than a fair opening and final wage for the boundaries we’re trying to set.

It sounds like both parties weren’t very forthcoming in comms, so can’t put that against the club. The fact that he was at the Preston game doesn’t strike me as something someone who’s totally been left in the dark by the club would’ve done tbh  

If you’d have offered me Kalas vs what we’ve ended up with in Dickie, I’d have taken Dickie honestly. 
 

I’m sure he’s happy as well, Schalke is an absolutely incredible move for him.